Mullingar-based James L Murtagh Auctioneers face a busy run into Christmas with seven auctions, six of which feature agricultural land. That comes on the back of a run of auctions held in the last days of November where a pair of Westmeath farms sold.

First up on Thursday 20 November was a 62ac at Church Lane, Ballymore.Guided at €420,000, bidding for the farm, which is in a Natural Heritage Area (NHA), opened at the guide price and steadily rose with bids of €10,000 to €520,000.

At this point bids switched to increments of €5,000 as four bidders remained in contention and took the farm to €580,000. On instructions from the vendors, auctioneer Padraic Murtagh declared it on the market and the gavel came down at €605,000.

ADVERTISEMENT

An online bidder, a local with farming and business interests was the purchaser.

Next up on Friday 21 November, was a 23ac non-residential holding at Boardsland, the Pigeons. An opening bid of €200,000 got things underway and it moved up in increments of €10,000 to €240,000.

Bidding dropped to €5,000 increments after this and €280,000 was reached before the bid level eased again. Eventually, €287,000 was reached and the land was put on the market.

Bidding continued in jumps of €2,000 and €3,000 until the hammer was brought down at €310,000. It was purchased in trust by Denis O’Roarke of O’Roarke Brothers Auctioneers in Moate.

Speaking after the sale, Padriac Murtagh said: “This is the second sale, in recent time that Denis has bought in trust from us. The performance of both farms shows whether you’re a full-time or a part -time farmer, there’s an appetite for land and if someone is in a position to buy land, it’s still seen as a sound tangible investment.”